


The Never Ending New Years Eve

by grapejellie31



Category: Women's Soccer RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, F/F, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, New Year's Kiss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-22
Updated: 2020-02-25
Packaged: 2021-02-28 05:42:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 14,833
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22838779
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/grapejellie31/pseuds/grapejellie31
Summary: Lindsey loves New Years Eve, she really does. However something is wrong and she doesn't know who would even believe her if she told them. Whenever the clock strikes midnight everything around her freezes, and the only solution she's found so far is sleeping it off. The issue with that is that when she wakes up, it's December 31st all over again. Can she figure out why the universe has cursed her so, or will she be stuck reliving the same day forever?
Relationships: Lindsey Horan/Emily Sonnett
Comments: 11
Kudos: 75





	1. Never Ending Nights and New Faces

**Author's Note:**

> hello everybody! i've had a pretty crazy week and it's almost done, but decided that posting this might be a fun idea. this fic is actually a converted story, where i originally wrote it with my own original characters and then decided that i wanted to publish it here. so if one of the girls seems like she's doing something out of character, that's why! 
> 
> i still think it's super cute though so enjoy!

I’m back outside Becky’s house for New Year’s Eve. Again. 

And as much as I love and the rest of my friends at this party, I’m not excited to do the same night over again for the billionth time.

Okay, okay, I admit I’m exaggerating. This is only the 13th time I’ve lived through this. 

It’s confusing, trust me I’m well aware, because I don’t know what this means either. I haven’t told anyone yet though, because honestly I’m scared no one will believe me. 

I turn off the radio and get out of my car to find my friend Allie struggling to carry all of her food and overnight bag that she had packed like she always has. We walked in together and I went to put the stuff down by the stairs to the basement, where I knew everyone would end up setting up to watch the movie after dinner anyway. 

I scanned the kitchen and everyone was doing what they had done for the past twelve times. Alex was making food, Becky had taken my brownies and ice cream and was placing them on the dessert table. Mal was excitedly telling a story to some friends from her neighborhood that I wasn’t supposed to know yet, except now I do know them because of the past nights, Abby and Tierna. 

What really threw me off though was when I looked over to where Sam and Rose were talking. Normally it’s just the two of them, but tonight there was one more person with them. Emily Sonnett. 

She was definitely new. For the last twelve nights, she had been at her own house having some big party with her twin sister Emma, and some other friends from the place they work at. 

I approached the table with the bag of food for Sam, since her diet prevented her from eating the majority of the food at the party. 

“You are seriously the best dude, you didn’t have to go and buy this stuff for me,” Sam said graciously, looking through the bag of fruit and nuts. 

“Oh please, you were busy with soccer and going to Walgreens is one of my favorite things to do, it was nothing and now you won’t start the new year on an empty stomach,” I said, rattling through the same story I told her about me and my little grocery adventure every day. 

She and Rose laughed per usual, but Emily just smiled and shook her head. 

I went back to Alex and Allie to get some food, but for some reason I wasn’t hungry. And I always ate food at the party. The whole Emily thing was really throwing me off, but I just carried on and let the party happen. 

Nothing else out of the usual happened, Kelley showed up late like she had every other time, and we watched the same two movies we always did. 

It was almost time for the ball drop though, and I was kinda getting anxious because I didn’t want time to freeze again. The only way to make the time unfreeze was if I drove home and slept in my bed. 

It didn’t necessarily make the time unfreeze though, when I woke up it just reset the whole day over again, and the repetition was really starting to mess with me.

I was sitting on the floor with Alex and Sam per usual and the countdown began. 

TEN!

The cheering started to get louder.

NINE!

I opened my water bottle and held it in the air like everyone else was doing with their drinks, just in case time didn’t freeze this time and I actually got to clink glasses with others to celebrate the new year.

EIGHT!

The people on the TV were all huddled together, as it was cold in New York.

SEVEN!

Kelley and Tierna came running into the room, hoping not to miss the ball drop as they rushed to get last second drinks.

SIX!

The room started to get blurry, and everything was getting smaller.

FIVE!

The yelling got louder, and anticipation rose.

FOUR!

I glanced at Alex and she gave me an excited grin.

THREE! 

The volume of the room suddenly increased again, just when I thought it couldn’t get any louder.

TWO!

Tears started to spring to my eyes, for fear that in a second I would be left alone once again, everyone else frozen in time.

ONE!

The word barely filled the room before silence was all that was heard. The television was frozen, and no one was speaking.

No. Not again.

I started to cry, as my emotions were literally all over the place. 

“Lindsey, is that you?”

I wiped away my tears, hoping that voice I heard wasn’t just in my head. 

“Hello?” I croaked, my voice breaking from the crying.

“Lindsey it’s me, Emily.” 

Emily came across the room to where I was sitting on the floor and sat down in front of me. 

“How are you not--do you know what is--please explain,” I asked, managing to get over the initial shock of someone else not being frozen in time either. 

“I don’t know, I really don’t know. All I can tell you is that for the past twelve nights I’ve said no to Becky’s last minute text invitation, and tonight I decided I was tired of the same thing over and over again, so I came here. And time froze again, and you’re here and I have absolutely no idea what to do,” she rambled, crawling to sit across from me on the floor.

After I calmed myself down and stopped crying, Emily had asked what had happened to me.

“I don’t know, the first night seemed pretty normal to me, and I had told Becky I would come in like November, so this wasn’t a last minute thing at all. It’s just everytime it hits midnight everything freezes, even outside the house and the only way I can make things move again is when I go home and go to sleep. When I wake up the next day, it’s December 31st all over again.”

“Okay so we’re the only two people who are frozen, so that’s some kind of progress right, that we’ve found each other?” Emily reasoned. 

We decided to go home and sleep it off and come back again tomorrow night to see if there was anything weird that stuck out to the both of us, some sort of task we needed to fulfill. 

But there wasn’t.

It was the same as always, I helped Allie carry her stuff, gave Sam the food, watched movies, and did the countdown, where everyone froze, once again. 

“I just don’t understand why this keeps happening,” Emily sighed, pacing around the room.

We had moved our conversation into Becky’s bedroom, as being in the room with all of our friends frozen in time wasn’t the most comfortable feeling. 

“Maybe we have to do something?” I asked.

“Continue, I think I know what you mean but just to make sure we’re thinking the same thing,” she said, slowing her pacing.

“Like there’s some sort of task or goal we have to complete in order for it to turn to the new year, it’s like something has to happen before time can start again I guess,” I tried to explain. 

“Exactly, that’s probably it. But now the question is, what is it?” she pondered. 

“I don’t know, do you have any bucket list items or something you left that needs to be completed?” I joked. 

“Not that I can think of. Do you have anything?”

“Nope. Are we sure we’re the only ones not frozen though? There wasn’t any sign of movement at Emma’s party?” I questioned. 

“I don’t think so, but we can go back and check right now. C’mon, my car’s in the driveway,” she said, grabbing her keys from the counter and leaving the room. 

To be honest, I was kinda nervous to go to Emma’s party cause a lot of the more “popular” kids were going there, so that means like alcohol and drugs and I’m not really comfortable with all that stuff. At least they’ll all be frozen though, so it wouldn’t be too overwhelming. 

We were pretty much silent on the way over, both of us having too much to think about to need to have a conversation. It was a good silence though, and it was the first period of peace I had really felt since this whole thing started. 

“Well, this is it,” Emily said, turning off the car in the street in front of her house.

The house looked trashed. 

The lights were all on, the music was still blasting, and there was garbage all over the front lawn. 

“Well, this is just…” I started but was too speechless at the mess to finish. 

“Yeah, it’s not looking too good; normally I help Emma keep it at least inside the house but I guess since I wasn’t there tonight it didn’t stay as clean,” she said, as we got out of the car. 

We made our way into the house, stepping over bodies and empty beer cans, and Emily ran over to turn down the music.

“I was gonna turn it off, but I think it just might make this place even creepier,” Emily said as she made her way back to me. 

I nodded in agreement, still taking in the environment of the room, alcohol everywhere and bodies frozen in time. There was so much to take in, between the fact that this was a very illegal high school party and they were all frozen, and I began to shake. 

“Okay, so everything here looks like it always has, and not going to lie to you, I have no idea where to start. Do you see anything out of pla--Lindsey what’s wrong?” Emily said, taking her hand in mine. 

“I’m fine, it's just a lot, I’m really fine I swear,” I said, my breathing increasing. 

She didn’t believe me though and laced our fingers together and looked me in the eye, and just kept talking in calm tones, and I calmed my breathing down.

“See? You’re doing amazing,” she said, letting go of me.

As soon as we brought our hands back down to our sides though, the party unfrose, and the midnight countdown ended. We stood there in shock as people were kissing and throwing alcohol into the air.

“Is it seriously normal now?” Emily yelled to me, as someone had already managed to turn the music back up, and people were screaming and cheering for the new year. 

“Fingers crossed, let’s go find Emma,” I yelled back, wanting to get out of there before my anxiety got too high again.

She drug me through the crowd and we eventually found Emma in the kitchen talking with some friends. 

“Soooooonny is that youuuu?” Emma slurred, drunkenly stumbling over to the entry of the kitchen. 

“Yeah it is, I see that without my supervision the other girls convinced you to drink,” she muttered the last part, annoyed. 

“I’m so so glad you could make it. Oh and pardon me miss, who are you pretty lady?” Emma said to me, clumsily winking, which was more like a long blink.

“I’m Lindsey,” I giggled, her comment making me blush a bit. 

“Emma stop flirting with my friends, we need to talk,” Emily said sternly. 

This time Emily led us back to a room that I assumed was Emma’s and we took a seat on the floor because Emma could hardly walk straight.

“Wait so this is The Great Horan? The one you’ve been talking to me ab-” Emma started, sobering up a bit from the walk to her room but not enough to maintain a filter. 

“Yes this is Lindsey, but that’s not important right now. Emma this is the 14th time the two of us have lived through this exact same New Year’s Eve, and for some reason now it’s unfrozen” Emily tried to explain. 

“Whaaaat? Dudes that is real wild,” Emma slurred. 

“Yeah Emma we know, but do you have any idea why?” Emily pressed, trying to get information out of her. 

“It’s just you two that were frozen right, maybe the universe is trying to tell you something,” Emma said slowly, enunciating every syllable.

“That’s what we thought but we couldn’t think of anything and-”

“Sonny, baby, relax, sometimes things aren’t as serious as you like to make them seem,” she said, hiccuping after she finished her sentence. 

“Emma what does that even mean?” Emily asked, getting frustrated.

“I don’t know, I’m druuuuunk,” Emma said, raising her voice, attempting to stand up and then just falling back onto her back. 

“Look, maybe we should head back to Becky’s and see if any of our friends with sober brains can help us,” I whispered in Emily’s ear, while Emma reached out to touch my hair.

“Your hair really is like Rapunzel’s,” Emma whispered, looking back up at us in awe. 

“Get your hands off of her Emma that’s weird!” Emily exclaimed, but when she reached out to slap Emma’s hand away, it didn’t move an inch.

The party outside went silent, and the only thing we could hear was the blaring music, just like when we pulled up.

“Lindsey, what time is it?” Emily asked, her voice quivering. 

I reached into my pocket and checked the time. “12:05.”

“So they were unfrozen for five minutes, why only five, why tonight, just ugh why?” Emily said, her frustration continuing to rise from the unsuccessful conversation with Emma.

“Sonnett, look at me,” I started, holding eye contact like she had earlier with me. “I have no idea why any of this happened, but I say we call it a night and start over fresh tomorrow. Cause who knows, maybe we’ll be lucky and time will unfreeze tomorrow, but we aren’t going to get anything done right now when we are tired and frustrated. Agreed?”

“Agreed,” she sighed, standing up and getting her car keys off of the dresser. “C’mon Lindsey, let me take you home.” 

As we drove home I replayed the five minutes of normalcy we had at her house, trying to piece together the facts when I realized something.

“Wait, Emma said you’ve been telling her about me? What was that all about?” 

“Uh, well you see…” Lindsey started to trail off, and got quiet.

“What?” 

“I’m just trying to figure out how I want to say this,” she mumbled.

“Take all the time you need Son, lord knows we have it,” I joked, and she cracked a smile. 

As we turned into my driveway, she turned off the car and faced me. 

“Well, you saw how it was at Emma’s party, how she was. She’s been into all that stuff lately it seems like, and I feel like I’m losing her. More and more our late night conversations aren’t sober on her end, and she’s going to pay the price for it soon if she’s not careful. And so I had been telling her about you guys, how kind and sweet you all are and how much fun we have together without all that other stuff. And I almost thought I had her, until this party happened, but every night we got into the same fight of me not allowing her to drink, and me not allowing the party to expand outside, and me turning the music down so we wouldn’t get the police called on us and our parents don’t find out, and I really just don’t want to lose her to this stuff. She knows all my darkest secrets and I know hers, she’s my twin sister, y’know?” 

“Yeah,” I whispered, processing everything she had said and trying to come up with some sort of advice to console her. 

“Sorry, I know it’s a lot and-”

“No, I mean it’s a lot but that’s okay, that’s perfectly okay, I’m just collecting my thoughts,” I rambled, trying to validate her.

We sat there in silence for a moment. 

“What about the whole Rapunzel hair thing?” I giggled, trying to lighten the mood.

“Oh that, that’s nothing, I was just trying to describe to her what you guys looked like and I compared you all to Disney princesses, it’s dorky, I know,” she said shyly.

“That’s not dorky at all, and I’m honored that you think I am Rapunzel,” I smiled at her, and she mirrored my action.

“Well that’s good. Wouldn’t want you thinking I’m dorky.”

“Oh but you’re plenty dorky, you’re an art dork,” I teased.

“Wow harsh blow, but I guess the art dork isn’t the worst I could be doing.”

“It’s definitely a good type of dork to be. Now, I’m going to head inside and sleep this off, see you hopefully in the new year, but if not, then that’s okay too, because we will figure this out together.”

“Together, that’s right. Night Lindsey, catch you later.”

“Goodnight Sonnett, drive safe,” I said, closing her car door and heading inside.


	2. Squeezes and Stargazing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lindsey and Emily continue to try and solve the mystery of why they keep reliving the same day over and over again, as well as learning more and more about each other.

The night passed once again, and sadly when I awoke, it was back to December 31st. 

I made it Becky’s and did the normal routine, except this time when we watched the same two movies, Emily slyly snuck us out of the room into the bathroom.

“Hey,” she said breathlessly, as we had just run to avoid being seen.

“Hey yourself.”

“So, it’s day 15, you got anything?”

“I have an idea,” I said slowly, unsure of whether I wanted to say it or not because it seemed weird.

“Lay it on me, I’m all ears,” she replied, sitting on the counter behind her. 

“I think somehow, it has to do with physical touch,” I started, looking up to gauge her reaction, which was minimal so I decided just to keep going. “You know when I freaked out? You grabbed my hands and looked me in the eyes and calmed me down, and as soon as you let go then time unfroze.”

“And so maybe if we do it again tonight it will unfreeze?” Emily said hopefully.

“I really don’t know Sonny, but maybe it will unfreeze and we can talk to one of our friends here about it and see what they think,” I answered.

“Okay so I might be a dork but you’re a nerd because I am not smart enough to come up with something like that,” she said, sliding off the counter.

“So then we make the perfect team, the dork and the nerd,” I teased. 

“Absolutely perfect. Now, let’s go see how many snacks we can sneak out of Allie’s bag without her noticing. My high score from last night was 5 and then she slapped me,” Emily said, opening up the door. 

We finished off the movies and headed up for the countdown, and for some reason, the countdown is a lot easier when you know that someone is going to be there with you when they all freeze. 

As soon as they froze, Emily grinned and skipped over to me.

“Alright time to hold hands,” she said, wiggling her eyebrows as she did it. 

I tried to hide the blush that rose to my cheeks, which I was not expecting to occur, and held out my hands.

She put hers in mine, but she was looking at the ground.

“Hey Son, you have to look at me silly, that’s what we did last night,” I explained, and she rose to meet my gaze.

A smile spread to both of our faces, and I really looked at her eyes.

“Your eyes are so pretty Sonnett, like wow,” I complimented her, and her eyes went back down to the ground. “Hey bring those gorgeous eyes back up to me, or this isn’t going to work,” I teased.

She looked back up at me, her cheeks bright red.

“Well then you need to stop talking and making me want to look away,” she muttered.

“Oh, are my eyes that repulsive?” I joked, feigning offence. 

“No, they’re the complete opposite,” she responded seriously. 

“Well look at that, another reason we make a good team, we’re a dork and a nerd, and we both have beautiful eyes,” I winked. 

“Okay Ms. Smooth, you think we’ve held hands long enough?” she teased. 

“I think so,” I said, dropping her hands. 

But it didn’t work. Nothing changed. Everyone was still frozen. 

“But...but...but..” I started, tears welling in my eyes as I took a seat on the ground to keep myself from falling over out of shock. 

Emily walked throughout the entire house, seeing if anyone had unfroze.

“Nothing, no sign of any movement,” she sighed, sitting down next to me. 

“Why didn’t it work? It worked last night at your place, so why not here?” I cried, holding my head in my hands.

“Hey maybe that’s it, maybe it only works at my house, you wanna go back and try it there and see if we get any movement there?” Emily said, rubbing my back. 

“Yeah, that’s a good idea. But can we just sit here for a second? I just need a minute to restart everything and collect myself, I’m sorry I’m such a wreck-”

“Hey, you are allowed to be like this, it is totally okay. Come here,” she said, holding her arms out.

I leaned into her side and wrapped my arms around her, and she did the same, and we just sat there, holding each other. 

When we released, she held my hands as we stood up.

“Hey, chin up, we’re the perfect team remember?” she smiled.

“The nerd and dork with the pretty eyes, how could I forget?” I giggled, feeling better already. 

When our hands dropped to our sides and we turned to leave, the world unfroze once again. 

The party continued, and everyone clinked drinks, cheering to ring in the new year. 

Emily and I looked at each other, the same thought in mind.

“Becky!” we said in unison, rushing to find her in the crowd of our friends.

We basically dragged her to her room and locked the door, ignoring the rest of our friends’ confusion and sitting her down on her bed.

“What in the world are you two doing? And why can’t you let everyone else in?” Becky asked.

I looked to Emily, who was already taking a deep breath to start and explain everything. Becky listened to every part of it, processing it as she went, and nodding along.

“Listen we know it sounds crazy but we could really use your insight because we honestly don’t have any idea what to do next,” Emily finished. 

“Well, as weird as this is, I do believe you guys. And I think I have an idea on how the time has been unfreezing, how much time do we have left?” she asked.

“It’s 12:03 currently, it refroze at 12:05 last night,” I responded.

“So the unfreeze has something to do with physical touch, you got that right, but it can’t just be any physical touch, it has to be genuine. You can’t be purposely trying to touch each other to unfreeze time, you have to be getting closer and more comfortable with the other. Basically, there has to be a purpose to the action besides just unfreezing time.”

“That makes sense I guess, but why us two? And why genuine touch? Like what does this all mean?” Emily groaned.

“That I can’t answer, I am not the keeper of the universe, you two are on your own for that one,” Becky said.

“Wouldn’t it be cool if you were the keeper of the universe though?” I said, letting my mind wander.

“Lindsey, focus! What time is it?” Emily said, snapping her fingers in front of my face. 

“It is currently...12:06?” I said surprised. 

“And time still isn’t frozen!” Emily exclaimed.

“While this could be fixed for good, I would also like to point out the fact that we could have extended time because your touch was a lot more intimate than last time, so please don’t get too excited, I know this is hard for both of you, I can’t even imagine,” Becky sighed. 

“You’re right Becky, but this is somewhat of a breakthrough,” Emily said.

“Thank you for your help too Becky, even though you probably won’t remember any of this if the day restarts again tomorrow,” I joked. 

“And feel free to pull me aside at any point during the party and explain this to me, I’ll be confused at first but know that I will want to help,” she added. 

“Thank you,” Emily and I said at the same time. 

We all looked at each other and laughed, and I never realized how adorable Emily looked when she laughed until now. 

“Well, what should we do until time freezes again?” I asked.

“Honestly, let’s just stay in here, you don’t want to have to go out there and waste time explaining to everyone what the big deal is,” Becky replied. 

“That’s probably for the best,” Emily agreed.

“So, what’s it like to have done New Year’s Eve 15 times?” Becky asked.

“Ugh, it’s getting a bit boring, I’ll admit,” I groaned.

“Well I spent the first 12 of them at Emma's party at my place, so this is only the 3rd time at your party Becky,” Emily said.

“What made you change your mind?” Becky questioned.

“I was bored, and honestly sick of trying to save Emma, so I decided to go and let myself relax here instead of being her helicopter parent,” Emily replied.

I smiled at her answer, and gave a squeeze to her leg to show her how proud of her I was for making that choice, and for telling Becky about it. 

We discussed Emma’s situation a bit more with Becky, and explained what happened at the party every night to her, and eventually Becky froze. 

“Well, I can’t say I’m surprised, just disappointed,” I sighed, standing up and walking towards the door.

“Yeah, I guess we just try again tomorrow - or today - but also tomorrow, ugh you know what I mean,” Emily sighed.

We opened the door to find all of our friends pressed up against it and lining the hallway.

“Wow, this isn’t freaky at all,” I muttered. 

“Yeah, I didn’t realize our friends were all so nosy.”

“Doesn’t Becky have a window in her room?”

“Yeah, let’s just use that instead.”

We climbed out the window and Emily volunteered to drive me home again. 

Tonight’s drive home was a little quieter, as we were both just thinking through what had happened.

“My only question is why at this point, not even how or anything, just why?” Emily broke the silence.

“Honestly I’m just as lost as you are, like why us?” I replied, shaking my head.

She turned into my driveway and put the car in park. We both just sat there for a moment, letting ourselves go deeper into thought. 

“Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m glad it’s you and not any of the rest of our friends,” Emily said.

“Why?” 

“Well, you’re easy to be with, and I like hanging out with you,” Emily replied. “Do you?”

“Yeah, I’m glad it’s you. I don’t know if anyone else could keep me calm about this whole thing like you do. Plus you’re fun,” I said. 

“Good, good.”

We said goodnight and to my expectation, the next morning I awoke to December 31st all over again. 

The whole day I couldn’t stop thinking about what Becky said about the genuine touch, and why Emily was the one I needed to get close to.

Like she’s a good friend, but I already had Alex and Sam as my best friends, I didn’t see a point in getting super close to her.

I mean she’s nice and all, but we’d been friends for like a year and a half and we hadn’t gotten closer so I just thought we were just supposed to be simply friends.

I drove up to Becky’s, but this time, Emily was standing where I normally park my car.

I pulled up next to her and rolled down the window, and she walked up.

“So, I have an idea,” she stated, leaning into my car.

“I’m all for ideas.”

“What if, we just skip the party for the first part, and go do something fun? And then we come back at like 11:30, and see what we can do,” she explained.

On one hand, if time unfroze for real it would be weird to our friends that we ditched them to hang out alone. On the other hand, this was the sixteenth New Year’s Eve, and I could definitely use a change.

I unlocked the car, and she smirked and got in.

She got buckled, and as her seat belt clicked I started pulling out of Becky’s neighborhood, and onto the main road.

“So...what’s your plan?” I asked. 

“Well, I have a whole bag of snacks, and it’s getting dark out. I also packed a blanket and a flashlight. And I’ve always wanted to go see the stars without any city lights to ruin the view. So I was thinking we could drive out west and maybe go stargazing?” 

She was smiling so big and she looked really excited, I had to say yes. Plus, it did sound really fun.

So we headed out west, parked in an empty church parking lot, and popped the trunk on the back of my car.

“Wow Son, the stars are definitely a lot cooler out here,” I said, laying down on the blanket next to her.

“I know, you just can’t see them like this in your backyard, can you?”

We sat in silence for a bit, and it didn’t feel weird or awkward for once, it was kinda nice.

“Well uh, the universe wants us to be closer apparently. So, what’s one secret you’ve never told anyone before?” 

I turned to look at Emily, who was still looking up at the stars, like she hadn’t spoken at all.

“What do you mean?” I asked, trying to process what she was asking of me.

“Like, tell me something you haven’t ever said out loud to another human before, it can be super deep, or something surface level. You choose.”

I sat there and thought about it, looking at the stars, until I finally had my answer.

“I’m scared that I’m not going to find my soulmate, so to speak. That I’m never gonna find love and I’m gonna live alone.”

We sat there in silence, her thinking, and me nervous at how she was going to react.

“I know it’s stupid—“ I sighed.

“No Lindsey, it’s not stupid at all. I just wanted to make sure I knew how I wanted to answer. And now I know, because you are going to find someone that you deserve. Can I ask what makes you think you won’t find someone?” she asked. 

She had taken her glance off of the stars and was looking at me now, and I felt a rush of comfort.

“It’s kinda the not being worthy thing, but also just that I haven’t really had a crush on anyone. Like we talk about boys and yeah some of them are cute but I’m never like obsessed with them, I don’t know it’s weird.”

“No that’s not weird, you just haven’t found someone worthy enough and that’s totally okay! I mean, I haven’t really dated anyone either, we don’t really have the best options with the boys at school, do we?” she joked, and we both laughed and looked back up to the sky.

The sky was truly stunning, but the moonlight on Emily’s face made it seem like she was glowing.

“So what about you? You want to expose your deepest darkest secret?” I teased, giving her a wink.

She giggled and shook her head, rolling her eyes at me.

“Well…” she trailed off.

I let her think for a little bit, before clearing my throat to draw her back in.

“Oh sorry, just getting lost in my own thoughts,” she said, blushing.

“It’s cool, you don’t have to share anything deep if you don’t want to,” I offered, not wanting to push.

“No that’s not fair, no, it’s just, just hard,” she said, sighing.

I let her sit a little longer, and right as I was about to offer to head back to Becky’s, she spoke up.

“Well I don’t like being seen as vulnerable, I don’t really like emotions and feelings. So yeah, it just makes me feel awkward to talk about that and I don’t want people to see me as weak, I’d rather just comfort others and let them do all the talking.” 

“You don’t want to lose control of the situation?” I asked.

“Yeah, I guess that’s one way to put it. Just a fear of being judged I guess,” she shrugged.

“You know, I never would have guessed that about you,” I commented.

“What does that mean?”

“Just the way you carry yourself, you’re so confident and funny, and your fashion sense is literally the coolest, you just seem very chill and put together,” I stated.

“Well, that means I’m doing a good job of hiding the fact that it’s scary to see what other people think of me, and that I’m constantly a nervous wreck,” she said, not looking me in the eyes like she had been.

We sat there a bit longer, until the alarm went off on Emily’s phone signifying we needed to head back to Becky’s.

So we packed up the food, got in the car, and drove all the way back to Becky’s with the windows down, wind in our hair, and chill music filling the air.

We pulled into Becky’s and made up some story about me saving Emily from the craziness of Emma’s party, and by the time we were done explaining, everyone was gathered around the television to count down the New Year.

We sat down on the ground next to each other, and watched everyone freeze as the clock hit zero.

“And then there were two,” Emily teased, leaning her face in very close to mine and then backing away.

As she leaned in, I don’t know why but I couldn’t help but stare at her lips. 

Hoping she didn’t notice my brief slip, I shook my head and took a breath before I began talking.

“Hey, this is kinda just coming out of nowhere, but after hearing what you said in the car, I just wanted to tell you that I like you no matter who you are. Whether you’re a nervous wreck, or you’ve got it all put together. And I don’t know if anyone’s told you that before, but I just felt the need to tell you that.”

She was quiet, and I was scared to look over and see her reaction. But when I did, I saw tears streaming down her face.

“Woah woah woah! Please don’t cry, I didn’t mean to make you cry! I was just trying to be nice I swear, here let me go get you some tissues,” I said, getting up and going to the bathroom and getting some kleenex.

When I got back Emily had gotten to her feet and was starting to wipe her eyes with her sleeve. 

“Here, let me help,” I whispered, leaning in and wiping her tears away with a tissue. 

She stayed quiet as I traced her face, and I could feel her eyes staring at mine as I followed the white, cotton cloth on her face.

Once I had finished, I looked to my feet, too embarrassed to meet her gaze.

“I’m sorry I upset you, I didn’t mean to I just-” 

“No I’m sorry, you didn’t upset me at all, it’s just, I don’t know, I feel like I’ve waited my whole life to hear someone say that to me and it just really meant a lot. Just thank you so much for, well for everything,” she said, nudging my face to look up at her with her hand. 

“Really?” I asked, feeling like a small child learning they aren’t actually in trouble.

“Really Lindsey. You know, you’re just the sweetest person ever, and I’ve always been bad with words, so can I just give you a hug?” she asked.

“Of course,” I smiled, letting her arms surround me and hold me tight against her. 

Her hugs were amazing, and I felt so warm inside feeling her wrapped around me, and not letting go of me. 

I just let her hold me for as long as she wanted to, and rubbed her back as she buried her face in my shoulder. 

She finally released, and as soon as we let go, time resumed one again. 

We both looked at each other, the feeling of deja vu in the air. 

“Becky,” we sighed, laughing to ourselves as we grabbed Becky, took her to her room, and locked her door. 

“What in the world are you two doing? And why can’t you let anyone else in?”

“She said the exact same thing, this is really messing with me,” Emily whispered, taking a seat on the rug. “Can you do the explaining tonight?”

“Of course,” I said, sitting down across from Becky. 

“So Becky, it’s kind of a long story…”

I went through and explained everything, from the first few nights, up until last night. I told her what she told us last night, and what we had actually been doing when we ditched the first part of her party. 

“Do you mind if I ask what you did tonight to unfreeze time?” Becky asked.

I looked at Emily, seeing as it was a little more personal to her.

“Linds said something really sweet, and I gave her a hug to show her how much it meant to me, you know how bad I am at expressing feelings with words Becky, and yeah. We hugged and when we let go of eachother it unfroze time,” Emily explained, giving me a little smile when she was done. 

Becky looked at the two of us, and then just shook her head. 

“I can’t believe last night me didn’t see this,” she muttered, smiling at the ground.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“When you nod your head yes, but you wanna say no, what do you-”

“Sonny, not the time for Justin,” I scolded.

“Yes ma’am,” she saluted. “But seriously, spill Becky!”

“Well, I mean I wasn’t wrong about the physical touch thing, let’s just say that. But also, I feel like I can’t tell you my theory, because the universe clearly wants you two to figure this one out on your own, seeing as you’re the only ones that don’t freeze.” 

“Wait, so you know how to save the world and you aren’t telling us?” Emily exclaimed.

“Ugh, you’re so dramatic. This isn’t really a worldly threat, everyone else in the world is fine. You two are both very smart, you can figure this one out all on your own,” Becky said smugly.

Time to pull out the big guns.

“Pretty, pretty please Becky? We’ll be your friends forever,” I said, speaking in a baby voice and giving her puppy dog eyes. 

For a split second, she looked like she was going to break, but then she shook her head and just laughed at us more. 

“No, for the last time I will not tell you! This is supposed to be a journey for the two of you, not me. However when you do figure this all out, please sit me down and tell me everything. You don’t have to tell anyone else, but I feel as if I need to know now,” she said.

“I promise we will tell you, now can we sneak out your window? Cause time refroze at 12:10 last night, and it’s 12:25 now, so I wouldn’t be surprised if it refroze again fairly soon,” I informed the two of them. 

Becky helped us climb out the window, and Emily and I walked down to the driveway to where our cars were parked.

“Can I-”

“Do you want a-”

We both stopped talking to let the other finish, and then laughed at each other. 

“Just get in my car,” Emily said, getting in the driver's seat. 

I played stupid, cheesy songs and we laughed the whole way back to my house. 

When we pulled into the driveway, she turned the volume down and started talking.

“So tomorrow, assuming things are frozen still, don’t be surprised if I smack Becky for not telling us how to fix all this,” Emily stated.

“Except we won’t be seeing Becky tomorrow so that actually won’t happen,” I said.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” 

“Don’t go to any parties tomorrow, I’m picking you up at your house at 7. Dress nice, and no I’m not telling you what we’re doing, it’s a surprise. Let’s just say don’t eat before we leave,” I winked, grabbing my phone and getting out of the car.

She tried to talk, but I cut her off by closing the door.

As I walked up to my front door, she rolled down her car window.

“Goodnight you little mystery! See you then!” she yelled.

“Goodnight!” I yelled waving back at her as I went inside. 

I set an alarm to wake up early the next day, I had some planning to do.


	3. City Lights and Couple Things

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lindsey takes Emily out for a surprise evening because at this point why not? And if they're just going to keep reliving the same day with no consequences, they might as well do something fun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my crazy week finally came to an end last night, and i literally spoke in front of like 280 people, which was terrifying, but it went well! so you can credit this chapter to the high i felt when i woke up this morning and realized i did it. 
> 
> hope you enjoy!

I managed to book us a reservation at a fancy steakhouse downtown, rented a nice jumpsuit from some store at the mall, made a last minute call for a surprise after dinner, and began to get ready for the dinner.

“Hey Lindsey?” My mom asked, knocking on the door as she entered.

My outfit was laying on the bed, and I was busy starting makeup.

“Yeah mom?”

“Can I ask what all this is for? I thought you were going to Becky’s party, and I’m pretty sure it doesn’t involve this fancy jumpsuit,” my mom asked.

The outfit was pretty fancy, I’ll admit. It was a longer navy jumpsuit with a v-neck top. No sequins or anything like that, which made it the perfect mix of dressy and classy. 

“Yeah, last minute change of plans, we’re going out to dinner, Allie’s mom managed to get us in at the steakhouse downtown,” I said.

“How did she do that? It’s the night of New Year’s Eve!” 

“Mom I don’t really know, it’s Allie’s mom, she’s got all kinds of connections. I promise I’ll be safe,” I said, sensing her stress about my last minute change of plans.

I continued to ease her nerves and got her helping with my makeup, and left just in time to get to Emily’s house.

I got out of the car to go knock on the door, but she was already walking down the stairs of her front porch.

As she approached the car, I could see her look for the night and she looked like a goddess, if I’m being completely honest.

Her dress was a dark green, and was tight against her body, ending right above her knee. She had heels on, unlike me, so it made her even taller than me, and that in itself almost made me pass out on the spot.

Her makeup was light, but the green in the dress brought out her eyes and made them almost glow. And her hair was all pinned up and back, and showed the beautiful shape of her face.

I opened the passenger door of my car for her to get in.

“You look, you’re beautiful,” I said, stumbling over my compliment.

Her cheeks flushed red and before she could respond I closed the door and walked back to the drivers side of the car.

As I sat down and got buckled, she looked up and had lost her red cheeks.

“You look gorgeous as well, do I get to know what we’re doing yet?” 

I began pulling out of the driveway, and turned to look at her to give her a knowing look. 

“Flattery is not the way to get answers out of me Sonnett,” I said, winking as I began to drive down the street.

“Oh it isn’t? Advise me wise one, how do I get answers out of you?”

We pulled up to the red light, and I turned to look at her as we waited for it to change.

“That’s for me to know and you to find out, if you’re lucky,” I said, letting my eyes roam her body. 

I knew she was watching me, and I let her watch, wanting to see if she would let me stare, or stop me. 

“Hey Linds, green light,” she said, a teasing tone. 

“I’ve found something else that’s green and much easier on the eyes,” I stated, focusing back on the road. 

She gasped and giggled, and I’m pretty sure she was speechless for a moment there, which made the victory so much sweeter.

“Lindsey Horan, what’s got you in such a flirty mood tonight?”

“I’m just appreciating this dress you’re wearing, it suits you,” I said, trying not to come on too strong. 

“Well thank you, I’m glad you like it. I was hoping it wasn’t too dressy, but after seeing your outfit, I feel a lot better,” she stated.

“Glad I met your expectations,” I joked, pulling into the parking lot of the steakhouse.

“Oh you very much exceeded my expecta- wait are we going to this super fancy, and may I mention, expensive steakhouse?” Emily asked, disbelief painted on her face.

“You betcha,” I said, trying not to laugh at her, while also looking for an open spot.

“How did you manage to get us a reservation? Was it not booked already?” she asked as I pulled into a parking spot.

I straightened out the car and put it in park, pulling the keys out of the ignition. She continued to ask me questions about how I could have possibly gotten reservations, but I cut her off as I got out of the car and walked around to her side of the car, opening her door for her. 

“A great magician never reveals her secrets. Now come on princess, our table awaits us,” I joked, helping her step out of the car. 

We walked to the restaurant and got seated, and I was just hoping she didn’t think this was too much. I don’t know why, but it was just really important to me that she was happy, and not uncomfortable. 

“So I was thinking we should get the couples meal, that way it’s cheap--hey Linds, relax, what’s got you so tense?” Emily asked concerned, looking up from her menu. 

I took a deep breath, releasing tension I didn’t know I was holding in my shoulders, and forced a smile.

“Nothing, so what meal did you want to get?” 

“The couples steak deal, we each get a salad and split a steak, and then we get to choose a dessert to split too. What do you think?”

“I think that sounds like a wonderful idea,” I said, smiling genuinely this time.

“Glad we agree. And Lindsey?” she started, reaching across the table and putting her hand on top of mine.

“Yeah?”

“This is perfect, all of it is perfect. So please don’t stress, you deserve a fun night too, the world knows we both could use a fun night,” Emily said. 

“Thank you Em, I just want you to be happy, you know since it’s kinda my fault you’re stuck dealing with me every night.”

“First of all, this isn’t either of our faults, second of all, the past five days I’ve spent with you have made it worth doing December 31st seventeen times over. Wow, that sounded a lot cheesier than I thought it was going too,” she laughed at herself. 

I sat there speechless, and just as I was about to return her heartfelt confession, the food came, and we got busy eating.

The meal was wonderful, as was dessert. Which meant it was time to carry out phase two of the plan. 

“Where are you taking me now?” Emily asked excitedly, as we drove down the highway. 

“What makes you think I’m going to tell you now?” I teased. Glancing at the clock, I saw that it was already 11:15, giving me the perfect amount of time for the plan.

Seeing my exit, I got off the highway and started driving downtown, trying to find the closest parking garage to park in. 

The garage was packed, but I finally found us a spot, and we walked up to the street. 

The streets were full of people, and I didn’t want to lose Emily, so I grabbed her hand and walked her out onto the sidewalk. 

“Okay, I’ve tried so hard to not be annoying and bug you about where we are going, but can you please tell me?” Emily asked.

We walked up to a hotel known for its looming height over the city, and I walk her inside. 

“We’re here,” I whisper, squeezing her hand and walking her up to the front desk.

“Hello ladies, how can I help you?” the receptionist asks.

“Hi, I have a room booked under the name Horan?” I stated politely.

She found us in the computer, and checked us in, handing me the key. 

Emily followed me to the elevator, speechless. 

“How did you manage to get us a room in this hotel, tonight of all nights?” she asked as the doors to the elevator closed, not noticing that we were going to the top floor. 

“This hotel is giant, I figured there would still be at least one room open, so I called to check, and there was.”

“You Lindsey Horan, are truly a genius.”

“I have to live up to my nerd status you’ve promoted me to,” I joked. 

We got to the top floor and the doors opened, and while Emily froze in the hallway after she walked out, I continued to walk down the hall and opened the door to the stairwell. 

Emily stood there, eyebrows scrunched and eyes questioning me. 

“Well, are you just gonna stand there all day or…” I trailed off as I gestured to the stairs. 

She followed me up the dark stairwell, and just as I was about to open the door she yanked me back from the doorknob.

“Are you crazy? Is this even allowed?” she whisper-yelled at me, so close I could feel her breath on the back of my neck. 

“Emily, do you trust me?” I whispered in return, turning around to face her.

“Of course, this is just possibly breaking the rules.”

“This is the seventeenth time we’ve lived this day, I’d say it’s time we break some rules,” I said, opening the door and walking out onto the roof. 

We wandered out, the stars shining in the dark night sky above us and the city bustling below us. I glanced at my watch to look at the time.

11:58, perfect.

“Hey Em, come over here,” I said gesturing to where I was standing at the edge.

Below I could see all the lights and activity, loud music coming from restaurants, and people laughing in the streets. 

“The city is beautiful from up here,” Emily said, making her way over to me. 

“You want to know why we came up here?” I asked.

She nodded eagerly, and I grabbed her hand and pointed at her watch.

“30 seconds until midnight, which means…”

“30 seconds until the city freezes,” I finished, smiling back at her. 

She took my hand off her arm and laced her it into her own, squeezing my hand and leaned into me as the countdown began in the street below us. 

“Three, two, one,” we both whispered, and the city went silent. 

Besides the music drifting from restaurants and clubs, the city was quiet. 

It was honestly kind of scary, but also the coolest thing ever. 

We stood there and stared at the city, soaking the moment in, together. 

“Hey Lindsey?” Emily broke the silence.

“Yeah?”

“Thank you, for everything. It truly was perfect,” she said quietly, and then raised our hands to her lips, placing a light kiss on the back of my palm. 

‘You’re perfect,’ was what I wanted to say, but the noise of the city cut me off, as her kiss had broken the silence below us.

“Let’s go party downtown a bit, I don’t think I’m ready for this to end yet,” Emily stated, dragging me toward the stairwell. 

Still holding hands, we walked out onto the streets, giggling and laughing with all of the people celebrating around us. 

We were strolling down the art district when a voice called out to us. 

“You two young ladies! Yes you two!” he said as we turned to acknowledge him.

“Yes?” I responded, guiding Emily and I closer to him. 

There was a well dressed, older man sitting in a chair on the side of the road. He had an easel set up on the street and a wooden box in front of it, his supplies scattering the ground around his chair. 

“You two are a lovely couple, dressed gorgeously, and obviously too young to have been drinking. If you would like, I’ll draw your picture for free if it keeps all these drunken couples away from me for a bit,” he offered.

“Oh we’re not a-”

“We’re not old enough to drink you’re right!” Emily said, giving me a look as she cut me off. “We would be happy to give you a break, where would you like us to sit?”

“Just on that wooden box would be great, one of you will sit on the other’s lap, if that’s okay,” he proposed. 

“I’ll sit on the box,” I stated, sitting down and motioning Emily to sit on top of me. 

She sat down, and we looked at the guy to begin the drawing. But he didn’t, he just sat there staring at us.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“Are you going to pull her closer? And maybe lovingly stare into each other's eyes or something cheesy like that,” he teased. 

I hesitantly pulled her closer, and she turned in my lap to face me.

“Is this okay?” I whispered.

“It’s perfect,” she whispered back, smiling at me.

“Perfect.”

He began to draw us, and after a few minutes of awkward staring, and me fighting to keep my eyes off of her lips, we talked quietly, barely moving our mouths so as not to disturb the artist. 

After what felt like an eternity yet nothing all at once, the man pulled us out of our trance, and showed us the drawing. 

It looked amazing, and I could tell by the look on Emily’s face that she loved it too. 

We thanked the man, and were starting our walk back to the hotel when time froze once again. 

“What time is it?” Emily asked.

“12:45.”

We both sighed and headed back in the elevator, this time to the floor our room was on. 

I opened the door using the key card, and when we walked in, I realized that this was just one queen sized bed, not two singles like I had requested. 

“Shoot, I requested two beds, I’m sorry Em,” I said quickly, before she could say anything about the room.

“Linds it’s totally okay we can-”

“I’ll sleep on the floor, don’t worry,” I said.

“Lindsey, we can share the bed, it’s not like I have cooties or anything,” she teased, jumping onto the bed and lying down. “The real question is, are we just going to have to sleep in our dresses?” 

“Nope, I brought some pj’s,” I said, swinging the backpack I had dropped off in the lobby when we arrived onto the floor.

“Wait, how come I’m just noticing this bag, have you been carrying this all night?” Emily asked.

“Nope, well, I had it when we checked in because I dropped it off at the main desk.”

“Hm, I must have been too busy looking at your pretty face to even notice,” she said, throwing a wink in at the end. 

“Oh okay, look who’s being smooth now?” I teased, throwing her a pair of my sweatpants and a t-shirt from the backpack. “Go and change you little flirt.”

“Is that anyway to talk to your one and only girlfriend?” she said as she closed the door to the bathroom.

“Uhm, girlfriend?” I asked, very much taken aback. It was probably a good thing she was in another room when she said that, because I could feel the heat rising to my cheeks. 

“Yeah, because that guy thought we were dating,” she said through the closed door of the bathroom. 

“Ah yes, that was a bit funny,” I said, forcing a laugh. 

She came out of the bathroom wearing my clothes, and they fit her perfectly. She looked so cute and cozy, but I quickly pushed the thoughts of cuddling from my head as I walked into the bathroom to change. 

When I got back into the room, Emily was already under the covers.

“I already tried to turn up the heat in here, but it won’t let me, so we’re stuck with the polar temperature they’ve given us. Now, get in here Horan, I’m cold and want the body heat.”

As I climbed into bed, I literally could not stop thinking about the fact that our night had basically turned into some cheesy romantic movie, and rolled my eyes at myself for yet again thinking of Emily in a weird romantic way.

She pulled me closer to her and wrapped herself around me, mumbling something about me being soft and warm, and I just let her hold me.

We may have said we held each other that night to stay warm, but really we both were scared of being alone, back in our own rooms when we woke up.


	4. Moms and Movies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Day 18 now, and Lindsey and Emily are continuously pushing the boundaries of their friendship once again. Because watching all three High School Musical movies in one day alone in bed was an idea Lindsey had that was definitely platonic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did the math and it would take a little over five and a half hours to watch all three High School Musical movies in one sitting. So if anyone out there is looking for a partner to do this with, sign me up! 
> 
> Enjoy the chapter!

And that’s what happened, I rolled over in bed the next day to find the space beside me empty, and the walls around me were not the ugly tan that they were in the hotel. 

And so day eighteen began, and I got dressed and drove over to Emily’s house.

I don’t know why I felt the need to talk to her, but after the night before, I wanted to see how things stood between us.

I walked through the cold up to the porch and knocked on her front door and her mom answered.

“Hi, I’m Lindsey and I’m one of Emily’s friends,” I introduced myself, realizing we weren’t close enough to the point of me meeting her family. 

“Hello Lindsey, Emily’s mentioned you a few times before. Come inside, it’s freezing out there!” her mother said, kindly guiding me inside and taking my coat.

“Thank you so much! Is Emily home?” I hadn’t taken into thought that Emily could have gone out to do something this morning. 

“She’s actually still asleep in her room, but you are welcome to go and wake her up,” her mom said, leading me over to the staircase.

“Alright, thank you so much Mrs. Sonnett!” 

I went up to her room and knocked on her closed door. Seriously, she couldn’t still be asleep, it was almost noon! 

No response followed though, so I went into her room. And low and behold, she was still fast asleep in her bed. 

I laughed at her sleeping position, starfishing the entire bed, mouth wide open. 

“Of course she’s adorable even when she sleeps,” I muttered walking into the room, closing the door behind me.

I took this time to really look at her room. She’s an artist, so of course her room is well thought out, colorful, and perfectly designed. 

I was looking at one of her drawings when she said my name.

I turned around to look at her, but she was still asleep, in the same position. 

“Lindsey, yes…” she mumbled, rolling over into her other pillow. 

Sleep talking, that made much more sense. But did that mean she was dreaming about me?

“Please Lindsey,” she said into the pillow. Wait was this a nightmare?

I decided to wake her up, this kind of felt like I was invading her privacy anyways.

Pulling the blankets back, I noticed she was still wearing the clothes I gave her in the hotel, which made me smile; at least the universe didn’t take that away from me.

“Hey Em, time to wake up,” I said softly, rubbing her shoulder. 

“Mom give me like fifteen more minutes,” she mumbled, pulling the covers back over her head.

“If I’m your mom we’ve got some things we really need to talk about,” I teased, pulling the covers away from her for the second time. 

“Oh, hey Linds, did my mom let you in?” Emily yawned, smiling at me sleepily.

“That she did, now scoot over, I’m cold from being outside.” 

She did just that, and I was honestly surprised she let me do it, but she was probably too tired to care that we were in bed together. 

We laid there for a second, until she rolled over to turn and face me.

“So, is my bed comfy?” she smiled.

I patted the mattress below me before turning as well, mirroring her position. 

“I’d say it passes the test.”

“Oh good,” she mumbled, reaching out and grabbing my arm under the covers. “Oh geez, you’re freezing!”

“Yeah, it’s cold outside, which is why I got in your bed,” I teased, her sleepiness obviously still catching up to her.

“Good thing I have a solution for that,” she smirked, scooting over to me.

I swear my breathing stopped as she wrapped her arms around my waist, nudging her face in my shoulder. I could feel her warm breath as it exhaled on my neck, and every muscle in my body tensed.

“Is it working?” 

Boy, was it working. It was very much working.

“Uhm, yeah.”

“Then why are you so tense? Relax, that’s the whole point of spending the morning in bed, it’s relaxing,” she said. 

I took a deep breath and just accepted the fact that this was happening, attempting to prevent my brain from taking this in further directions in my head. 

Once she felt my shoulders relax, she slipped one of her legs in between mine, so she was basically lying on top of me.

“Can I ask you a question?” she asked, snapping me out of my thoughts.

“Fire away,” I said, trying to maintain my breathing.

“Why did you come over here this morning? I mean we are gonna see each other tonight at Becky’s right?”

Oh no, oh no, she thinks it’s weird that I came over. Shoot, shoot, shoot!

“Would you rather have just waited? I can leave, I-I can leave if you need the, the space-”

“No! Please don’t leave!” she exclaimed, cutting me off.

Silence filled the room.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to make it sound like that, I just wanted to know why you wanted to see me, I was just wondering cause like, ugh sorry I don’t know how to say this,” she groaned frustratedly.

“No, no I think I get what you’re trying to say now. And I don’t know, I just know I felt weird waking up alone this morning, and I also kinda wanted to see what happened, like uh...do you still have the drawing of us?”

We both looked around the room, and saw it was taped to her mirror above the dresser.

“I’m glad it didn’t disappear, I like that picture a lot,” I commented.

“Me too. I for one, am also glad I’m still in your clothes. You’re never getting these back now, you know that right?” she grinned.

“I’ll learn to accept it eventually,” I joked. “Can I ask you a question?”

“Well, I guess that would be fair.”

“What were you dreaming about before I woke you up?”

She paused a moment before answering. “Uhm, I don’t know, why?”

“It’s just you were sleep talking, and it sounded like you were having a nightmare.”

“What was I saying?” she asked curiously, tilting her head up to look at me.

“Just my name, over and over again, like you were crying it out, kind of like you needed me almost?”

“You got that right,” she mumbled, thinking I wouldn’t hear her.

“What did you say?” I asked, trying to see if she would clarify what that exactly meant.

“I said that I must have been having a nightmare, I honestly can’t remember what I was dreaming about,” she said, her eyes not meeting mine. 

Clearly she was lying, but it was also clear she didn’t want to talk about it, so I decided not to push it. 

“So I remember Sam telling me the other night that you hadn’t seen any of the High School Musical movies?” I asked, attempting to lighten the mood.

“That would be correct, I know, I know, I’m missing out,” she groaned, having heard everyone lecture her on this before.

“Well the fact that you haven’t is unacceptable, lucky for you I came prepared to solve that problem,” I said, moving out of her hold to get my laptop out of my backpack on the floor. 

I had downloaded all of three of the movies this morning before I left, and hoped she would be down to have a movie day before the evening’s events.

“You do know that I talk through movies right? And ask a lot of annoying questions?” she asked, sitting up and repositioning herself beside me.

“Well it really is your lucky day, because I don’t mind one bit,” I said, tapping her on the nose before pulling up the first movie. 

We watched all three of the movies straight through, her mom bringing us lunch up when she realized we weren’t planning on getting out of bed anytime soon. 

We finally finished around 5, and both realized we needed to go get ready for the party, so I left her house to go home and shower.


	5. Final Countdowns and First Kisses

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Could tonight be the night that Lindsey and Emily finally fix time? Or will they continue to be lost in the cycle of December 31st over and over again forever?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> alright so i'm scared that tomorrow when i wake up for my 8am i won't post this so i'm just gonna put it up now cause it's basically Tuesday, right? 
> 
> anyways, hope you guys enjoy the last chapter!

I made it to Becky’s at 7, per usual, and the routine ensued as it always did. 

Everything was going like normal, until when we were picking the movie, and Sam and I had our conversation about Emily having never seen the HSM movies before. 

“Actually she has seen them,” I interrupted her during her spiel.

“She has? Sonnett, you’ve seen the High School Musical movies?” Sam said, yelling at Emily, who was sitting on a couch with Rose across the room.

“Uhm, yeah,” she said hesitantly, Sam’s accusing tone catching her off guard.

“When did you have time for that?” Rose asked.

“Time for what?” Becky asked, taking her seat back in her favorite recliner.

“Did I hear Sonnett say she watched the High School Musical trilogy without us?” Allie’s voice rang out into the room as she entered.

At this point, everyone at the party had made their way into the movie room, all shouting questions at once.

“Alright everyone shut up!” Becky yelled, standing on top of her recliner, her small figure towering over us. “Sonnett please explain, and no one, and I mean no one, will interrupt her.”

The room went silent, and Emily looked at me and rolled her eyes, and I fought back a giggle.

“Today Lindsey and I watched all three of them this afternoon, and yes I enjoyed them, yes they are good movies, and yes I would be willing to watch them again,” she said firmly. 

“Raise your hand for questioning,” Becky said formally.

“Why does this involve an interrogation?” Emily groaned.

“When did you and Lindsey plan this, and why weren’t any of us invited?” Mal asked accusingly.

“It was last minute, and I didn’t want to make a big deal out of it, like I knew you losers would,” Emily retorted.

“Or did you just want to be alone?” Rose teased.

“Oh my god, Becky how is her question relevant-”

“Next question!” Becky cut them off. 

“I’m going to go get a refill on my drink, anyone want anything?” I asked, standing up.

“I’ll just go with you, I want a water anyways,” Emily said, standing up as well.

“Nope!” Rose said, shoving her back into the couch.

“Why?” Emily groaned.

“Because we’re in the middle of an interrogation, that’s the rules,” Rose replied.

“There’s rules?” I asked.

“Yes, there are rules. Lindsey, go get Sonnett water,” Becky ordered.

“Aye aye captain,” I sighed, giving her a sarcastic salute as I left the room.

I heard squealing commence as I left the room, and I went up to get the water.

When I came back down, I paused in front of the doorway, deciding I wanted to hear what they were saying while I was gone.

“Did you do anything?” I heard Sam’s voice say.

“Since when were you and Lindsey so close?” Kelley asked, following.

“No, and we’ve been hanging out a lot lately,” I heard Emily say.

“And you didn’t decide to tell any of us?” Allie cut in.

“Wait I’m confused, why is this such a big deal?” Mal spoke up.

The room went silent, and I heard whispering, but I couldn’t make out what was being said.

“Oh, I thought everyone knew that, you are kind of obvious,” Mal’s voice rang clear.

“Speaking of, where is Lindsey, I kind of want that water,” Emily said.

“Why don’t you go and find her, we won’t start the movies without you,” Becky said.

There was a pause, and all I could hear were a few stray giggles.

“Alright, but no scheming, you hear me?” Emily ordered.

I could hear her footsteps coming closer to the door, and I quickly ran back to the staircase, as not to get caught standing by the door. 

She burst into the hallway, and saw me by the stairs.

“Sorry that took so long, here’s your water,” I said, handing her the bottle.

“Thanks, sorry if that was kind of weird, I didn’t expect a reaction like that.”

“No I’m sorry for bringing it up, if I had known an interrogation would ensue I would have waited until a later date and maybe warned you beforehand,” I joked.

“It’s all good, don’t worry about it. Can we go take a breather outside for a second? They won’t mind, although they said they would wait to start the movies until we got back,” Emily said.

“Oh, wouldn’t that be terrible if I missed these movies, because I’ve never seen them before or anything,” I said sarcastically, guiding her up the stairs and out the front door.

We sat outside and watched the stars for a bit, just taking a break from the noise and letting the silence rush over us. We eventually relaxed into each other, her head on my shoulder, my head on top of hers.

“Remember the last time we watched the stars together?” Emily asked, not taking her head off of my shoulder.

“Yeah, I remember,” I said softly.

“And I told you I was scared of being vulnerable with people?”

I hummed in agreement.

“Lindsey, please don’t hate me, but I think, I think that I’m-”

She stopped, pulling away and shaking her head.

I grabbed her hands and lay my head on her shoulder.

“Hey, hey, calm down. You don’t have to tell me anything you don’t want to, but just know that you couldn’t do anything that would make me think differently of you.” 

She took a deep breath and looked into my eyes.

“Lindsey, I’m gay.” 

“Okay,” I said lightly, a little overwhelmed and surprised at the sudden confession.

“Is that okay?” she asked nervously.

“No! I mean yes! You know what, just let me start over,” I said quickly, trying to decide how to phrase it.

We both giggled at my misfortune, and I took a deep breath and tried again.

“I am proud of you for telling me, I fully accept you, and I really don’t have a problem with it because I actually think I am a little gay too,” I trailed off, my voice getting higher at the confession. 

A smile spread across her face, and she was holding back a laugh.

“What do you mean by ‘a little gay’?” she asked.

“I think I like girls as well as guys, is I guess what I’ve been trying but failing to say. You just said it out of nowhere, it caught me off guard!” I exclaimed, trying to defend myself as she continued to giggle at me. 

Her laugh was contagious, so we sat there together on the front porch, laughs turning to giggles, and then to silence. 

We sat out there for longer than we thought, because the next thing we knew, Kelley opened the front door and broke the silence.

“Hey guys, sorry we watched movies without you, but Sonnett told us you wouldn’t mind Lindsey,” Kelley said, peeking her head out from behind the door.

“It’s all good, I don’t mind it at all,” I said, turning to face her.

“Well, if you guys want, Becky has told me that she wants you guys to come and see this painting her dad bought her in her room,” Kelley said. “Just come on back, we’re all sitting in there.”

“Alright, we’ll be there in a second,” Emily responded, tapping my shoulder to stand up. 

We walked in and headed back for Becky’s bedroom.

“Something seems off here,” I said, as the house was eerily quiet.

“Check the time, have they froze yet?’ Emily asked.

I looked at my watch, but it was only 11:45, we were supposed to have fifteen minutes left.

“If you guys are trying to scare us, this isn’t funny!” Emily yelled, but no response.

The lights to Becky’s bedroom were on, and so we walked in and looked around. 

“Where’s the painting?” I asked, scanning the room and finding nothing out of place.

Then the door closed, and we heard a lock turn from the outside.

Emily ran over and tried to open the door, but it was locked.

“Try the window!” Emily ordered, and I got up and attempted to, but it was locked as well.

“Everything is locked, you can’t get out!” Becky’s voice rang from the other side of the door.

“What do you mean we can’t get out?” Emily yelled.

“I mean that we will not unlock anything until you two figure this out.”

“Wait, does she remember what we told her?” I asked Emily in a hushed tone.

“There’s no way, no one remembers but us,” she whispered back. “What time is it?”

“11:50. So that means we only have ten minutes for them to unlock the door,” I muttered.

“Good thing Becky’s a nerd and has a rock collection,” Emily sighed, and went into the closet to get the shoebox containing said rocks.

“If you break my windows you pay for it!” Becky yelled from outside the door. 

All of our friends giggles could be heard from outside the door as well, which I think just made Emily madder.

“Rose, open this door, I’m not kidding!” Emily angrily yelled, and I flinched a bit before rushing to her side and grabbing her hand.

“I’m sorry Sonnett, this has to be done, you can beat me up or whatever you feel like threatening me with later,” Rose responded.

Emily looked like she was going to yell again, so I wrapped my other hand around her mouth.

“Hey, I know this is frustrating, and they don’t understand, but if we’re going to convince them to let us out, we need to act like there is nothing wrong,” I whispered into her ear, giving her hand a squeeze. 

“Guys, we’re going to miss the ball drop, just let us watch it and you can lock us up back in here afterward,” I tried to convince them.

“It’s being recorded, if you really need to watch it that bad you can watch it after,” Sam countered, seeing right through my lie and knowing that I really didn’t care about the ball drop.

“It’s 11:55,” Emily sighed.

“Well, if we get frozen in here maybe we can just sleep it off in Becky’s bed and try again tomorrow,” I offered.

“That’s true, it’s just that I really wanted to fix this tonight,” Emily whined.

“We’re going to go watch the ball drop, be good you two!” Becky yelled, and we heard the movement of our friends out of the hallway and into the living room.

“What do they even want us to do?” I asked. “Do you have any ideas?”

Emily looked at the ground and didn’t respond.

“Em, you good?” I asked, walking over to where she was sitting on the bed.

Still no response, eyes still trained on the carpet below us.

She knew something, something that could get us out of here, and that something that was upsetting her.

I pushed her legs apart and sat in between them, forcing myself into her line of vision, but she wouldn’t look me in the eye.

“Emily, remember what I said earlier, I’m here and nothing you do can ever change that.”

She shook her head and a tear rolled down her cheek.

“It’s just that, feelings are scary for me, you know that,” she whispered, trying to hold back even more tears.

This was the first time I had ever really seen Emily cry, but now that I have I can say that she is beautiful even when she cries, she’s beautiful all of the time.

“I know Em, I know.” 

I held her until the tears stopped, and decided maybe I could make a deal.

“What if I shared something really scary too, something I’ve never told anyone before,” I asked.

She nodded her head, and made it very clear that she didn’t want to go first.

I took a deep breath and sighed. 

“I think the universe is trying to tell me you are my soulmate, platonic or romantic I don’t know but...” I said quietly, scared to voice the possibility into the world.

Her head snapped up and she looked me in the eyes. “Really?” 

I just nodded in response.

“Lindsey, I like you. Like, really like you. And I know that seems crazy but I couldn’t help but think that maybe we were supposed to be together, especially after the whole universe freezes everyone except us ordeal, but having feelings for you scared me really bad.” 

I smiled bigger than I ever had.

“Well, for starters, I like you too. A lot. And maybe this is the universe telling us to be together, I mean it couldn’t hurt to try, right?” I asked shyly.

TEN!

“Are you trying to get me to kiss you?” Emily teased.

NINE!

My cheeks went red from my intentions being revealed.

EIGHT!

“Would you be opposed if I was?” I asked.

SEVEN!

This time her cheeks went red, and she shook her head, laughing to herself.

SIX!

“Not in the slightest,” she smirked, pulling my arm to stand up with her.

FIVE!

Both on our feet, we pressed our bodies against the other.

FOUR!

“God, you’re beautiful,” I whispered, trying to keep myself from blushing too much, however her cheeks were red as well so I didn’t feel too bad.

THREE!

She smiled at my comment, and brushed my hair out of my face, leaving her hand on my cheek.

TWO!

“You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to do this,” she grinned, pulling my face towards hers and leaning in.

ONE!

Her lips met mine, and it felt like everything made sense now, it felt right. 

I felt like I was floating, it was like we were in our own cheesy romantic movie, and I didn’t care one bit.

I pulled away to gauge her reaction, not wanting to continue if she decided she didn’t like it.

Her eyes were still closed, and she leaned in closer again.

“Kiss me again,” she whispered, voice hoarse in my ears. 

I couldn’t stop the grin that spread across my face as I leaned back in as well, and kissed her for the second time that night.

When we finally pulled apart, we could hear the cheering and excitement from the living room.

Which meant that no one was frozen. 

Which meant that things were quite possibly back to normal?

We both looked at eachother, and with a nod of our heads we knew who we wanted to talk to.

“Becky!” we both yelled, banging on the door.

She slipped into the room, locking the door behind her so none of the other girls could come in here looking for us later.

“Hey ladies, did you have a nice countdown?” she asked coyly, taking a seat on her bed.

“Oh, you have no idea how much I want to punch that smirk off your face right now,” Emily grumbled, cracking her knuckles in her hands.

“Okay Rocky, talk now fight later,” I said, taking one of her hands in mine and giving it a squeeze. 

“So, did you take care of business Sonnett?” Becky asked. 

I had so many questions revolving this current situation, as it seemed the girls all knew that Emily had feelings for me, but I knew that the whole making sure the world was normal came first.

“I’ll answer that question in a second, but we need to talk about something a little more serious than what you thought we called you here for,” Emily said.

Becky sat up straight and looked worried. “Wait is everything okay?”

“We think it’s okay now, but for the past 18 days it hasn’t been normal,” I answered.

We explained everything to her, from the first few nights, to have already having told her this story twice already, to what had happened when they locked us in the room.

“Woah, that’s intense,” she muttered, shaking her head.

“You believe us though, right?” I asked.

“Of course I do, you two couldn’t have just made that stuff up, that’s insane. But from the looks of it, I’d say you’ve fixed time. I mean, no one froze after the countdown, we’re all still moving and talking,” she pointed out.

“Yeah but you guys always move after we have intentional, physical contact with each other, and well, that’s exactly what we just did,” Emily said, her voice getting softer at the last part. 

She looked up at me and I met her with a soft smile, both of our cheeks still slightly pink.

“Y’all are adorable, but I guess we’ll just have to wait and see what happens, I don’t know what to tell you. Based on what you’ve told me about previous encounters though, it seems like the other Becky’s have thought that this was the universe’s way of trying to get you two together,” she stated.

“You really think so?” I asked. 

“I do. If it makes you feel better, I can tell everyone you guys headed out to talk things over, and you can sneak out my window,” Becky said, pulling the keys to the lock out of her pocket. 

“Is it bad I kinda just want to be alone with you Linds? Like I know we just spent the last 18 days alone but-”

“I still just want to be alone with you. Yeah, I feel that too Emily,” I said, finishing her thought.

“I’ll let you guys go, but can I give you some advice? Maybe go easy on the, uhm, physical contact with each other until we’re for sure time is unfrozen, if you know what I’m saying,” Becky said, trying not to laugh at her less than subtle implication. 

My face went red at the thought, and Emily seemed to be stumbling over her words in response.

“Becky! That’s not why I want to be alone with her, we literally just kissed not even five minutes ago, why would you even assume that, that’s so gross. Wait not gross, but like too soon and, no yeah gross, gross of you to assume that and-”

Becky stood up in the middle of her rambling and unlocked the window, the creaking of the window opening cutting Emily off.

“If you promise to stop acting like a weirdo anytime sex is brought into the conversation, you’re free to go,” Becky teased. 

This time Emily went bright red, and I just laughed. 

“C’mon babe, let’s get out of here and calm whatever this is down,” I said, guiding her towards the window. 

As she climbed out, I turned to Becky.

“Hey Becky?”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks, for everything. You’ve made the past 18 days a lot easier.”

“Happy to help Lindsey, always am. Now, go get my best friend and make sure she doesn’t pass out from embarrassment,” Becky joked.

“Aye aye captain, I’ll take care of her,” I said, implying that I didn’t just mean it tonight, but forever.

“I know you will Lindsey, I trust you. Don’t think this is going to get you out of the best friend interrogation, because I know Rose’s going to have a lot to ask. Now don’t get all sappy on me, go get her!”

I just laughed and climbed out the window after Emily. 

We walked out to our cars, hands intertwined, and her head on my shoulder.

“Where do you want to go?” I asked. 

“Well,” she started, guiding me towards her car. “I may or may not still have the blankets and stuff in the back of my car from when we went out and watched the stars. What do you say, us under the stars again?”

“I like the sound of that,” I grinned, letting her open the passenger side door for me to her car. 

She started the car, and placed her hand on the gear shift. Before she could take the car out of park, I put my hand on top of hers. 

“You know what else I like the sound of?” I asked, referencing our conversation from outside. 

She looked back at me, eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

“Us,” I said softly, smiling as I interlaced my fingers with hers. 

She smiled, leaned forward across the console to kiss me, and I melted into her embrace. She started to slip a hand under my shirt, and I giggled and pressed my forehead against hers, our breathing heavy. 

“Don’t go farther than kissing, you know that’s not allowed tonight,” I teased, leaning back into my own seat.

“Stupid universe,” Emily muttered, slouching back into the driver’s seat. 

“Hey don’t get grumpy, we have to go see the stars!” I reminded her. 

“Right, the stars,” she said, sitting up and putting the car into drive. 

We drove out to the field, the radio playing softly in the background, Emily humming along to the songs she knew, and I don’t think I’d ever been happier. 

We pulled into the empty parking lot once again, and got into the back of the car. But this time, instead of sitting on opposite sides of the car, we held each other, and it was even more relaxing than the first time. 

“Hey Lindsey?”

“Yeah?”

“I’ve been thinking about you a lot lately,” Emily admitted.

“Yeah?”

“I have, just like how crazy it is that we had this happen to us, like the universe chose us to be together and made us relive the same day over and over again until we got it right. Isn’t that like crazy?” she asked.

I looked up at her, her eyes twinkling in the starlight, her hair messily tossed upon her head, and I couldn’t help but smile.

“Yeah,” I spoke softly.

“Is that the only word in your vocabulary now?” she asked, obviously getting annoyed.

“Yeah,” I giggled, smirking at her reaction.

She just rolled her eyes and laughed along with me, and my heart felt like it was beating out of my chest. 

“You’re the most annoying person,” she sighed, shaking her head.

“But I’m your annoying person, and that’s all I need,” I replied.

The annoyance in her eyes faded, and all that was left was love, and she leaned in and kissed me like she meant it.

I could feel her pouring every single emotion into me, giving herself to me, and I was giving her the same in return.

And every worry I had in the world was gone. 

Because I mean, how bad could this next year be, when I had Emily?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and they kissed, it's over!! 
> 
> seriously though, i just wanted to thank you guys for the support, this community is so loving and i love being apart of it! thank you so much for taking the time out of your day to read whatever pops in my head.
> 
> have a wonderful day you awesome people!!!

**Author's Note:**

> i hope you enjoyed this chapter!! i'll try to get the other parts up within a fairly reasonable time, but y'know life is crazy so we'll see.
> 
> have a wonderful day you awesome people!!


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